Improvement in valve-boxes for engines



H. W. ADAMS. VALVE-Box Fon ENGINES.

DIO-170,149."

Patented Nov. 23, 1875.

o il" around the said elevated valve-face. valve-face I secure a valve box or chest, open limproved valve.

UNITED STATES PATENT Futon.

' HENRY W. ADAMS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT INVALVE-BCXES FOR ENGINES.

l Specication forming part'of Letters Patent No. [70,1119, dated November 23, 1875; application filed July 27, 1875.

which improvement is fully set forth in the 'following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The object of my invention is to produce a valve for use in all kinds of engines, which has no weight of live steam or compressed air, or other elastic body, on its top,which moves with little power and friction, which gives and [exhausts steam `or other elastic force more abundantly than lthe valve now in use,. and Vwhich also will perform the function of a brake when the live steam or other operative power is cut oft', and a vacuum is produced in the steam-chest. l

My improved valve isillustrated more in detail by the following figures:

, Figure 1 is a persective view of an ordinary valve-face of a steam-engine, showing the ports -and the bolts tofasten on the steam-chest. It shows the Aslight and usual elevation of the valve-face inside the steam-chest, and the close lit of the bottom ot' said steam-chest On this 'at the two ends, but having a bottom exactly "the size of the said valve face and sides, and a somewhat narrower top. This box isshown in Figs. `8 and l0. Its bottom and sides should be at least one inch thick, and should be bolted down very fast to the old valve-face with sevleral large screws, and rendered perfectly immovable. The steam-chest tits close around the bottom of this valve-box, and affords additional security against its working loose.

"The bottom and sides of this bo'X, with cover Fig. 3 is the cover, which may be cast on, as.

in Fig. 8, or bolted onto the sides, as shownin Fig.` 9. Fig. 7 is a view in perspective of my having its top and bottom faces precisely alike, except, in some cases, the top is beveled so as to workunder the shoulders a a. in Fig. 9, so as to allow these shoulders to sustain It is a box-valve, open, and

the ends of the covering-plate A. It is well known that lugs have been used and Vcast on steam-chests for the support of balancingplates. It is also well known that when the steam-chest is removed and rigidly fixed to its resting-place again, the packing under it,-or between it and the cylinder,will shrink bythe pressure ofthe screwing down, and therebyr lower the said lugs and the pressure-plate which rests upon them, and cause the weight of live steam to press the said plate upon the top ofthe valve. This plate is out of sight `and out ot' reach, shut upin the steam-chest.

It cannot be accurately adjusted, under these circumstances, to make a steam-tight joint with the top of the valve, and, at the same time, bear up the weight of live steam from the same. All this is avoided by my device, for the reason that the lugs or supportingshoulders a a are a part of the valve-box,

which. is ilnmovably secured'to the valve-face,.

When the and never changes its position. covering-plate is made to 'rest upon these shoulders by its two opposite ends, in such a manner as to just touch the top o't' the valve andinakeastcam-tight joint with it, it remains undisturbed and exactly balanced inside of the steam-chest, and independent of it. The latter may be removed and not alter the adjustment of the covering-plate( The valve may be drawn out from under the coveringplate from either end of it when the steamchest is removed, in Fi g4, `and shown in Fig.

9, without shortening the live-steam ports,

which are covered and uncovered by the bottom' of the valve B. c

When, for greater convenience of putting in thevalve and removing, it is practicable to shorten the steam-ports two inches, then the top ol' the valve B is not beveled, and the sides ofthe valve-box, as shown in Fig. 8, are cast 4 motion, or tightening or loosening it from tain any burden.

time time to time, as occasion may require,

we will suppose the valve-box, as shown in Fi 8, with a solid cast-iron cover, or, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, with a cover screwed onto its top, to be bolted down firmly to the valveace cast onto the cylinder.y The bottom ot' this box now becomes the real valve-face, on which the valve B slides. The'valve B is next put in its place, as shown in Figs. 9 and 10. The steam-chestis next put on in the usual manner, and the valve-stem D is passed through the end of the steam-chest, and through the hollow castingfE, which is cast with the valve B, and which prevents any leakage between the live-steam and the exhaust port, and strengthens the valve. This -stem D is madefast in E by the lock-nuts ci d and e e. The shoulders a a are planed oft' about a thirty-second of an inch, more or less, ,lower than the top of the valve. lbe one inch wide. On these shoulders are nowv Alaidthin strips ot' metal 'n u n a, a triie high- They should er than the top ot the valve B, as shown in Fig. 9. 0n these, thin strips of metal the plate lA is placed.l This plate, in case of a locomotive, .should be at least one inch' and a quarter thick at the ends which rest on the shoul ,ders ct a, and rounded up gradually to the middle to an inch and a half in thickness, to

,prevent springing by reason of the weight ofv live steam pressing down upon it. This plate now hardly touches the top surface of the valve B. Next, if the cover G (shown in Fig.` 3) is used instead of the solid casting, (shown in Fig.8,) it is screwed down firmly onto the* sides of the box, as shown in Fig. 9. In that 'case the strong bolts O O O, at least one inch 'fin diameter, screwed firmly into, and nearly through, the plate A, pass yup through holes .bored for them in the cover G. The set-screws- H H H H, being at least one inch in diame-f ter, are now turned down until they set the` .plate A down so asjust to touch the tops ot' :the valve. The true point is easily ascertained ,by pushing and pulling the valve-stem D, and

lmoving the valve B. When it is felt that the plate A is about touching the top of the valve` B the set-screws H H H H are turned down no more. p 'on the bolts O O O with considerable tightness. This holds the plate A rmly in its position, so that when the weight of the live ,steam sets in between the plate A and theI cover G, and presses on this plate with a` 4weight of several tons, the valve B is not affected by it in the slightest degree. Thesolid cast-iron shoulders a a. along the entire width ofthe throw ot' the valve are adequate to sus- The plate A rests on these 'two shoulders, by its two ends, for a distance "of at least one inch in "length, and the whole 4Width ot' the said plate. The strong bolts O 0 O also hold up the center of the plate A by pulling down against the strong cover G. This should be as thick and as arching as the plate A.

Fig. 6 is a perspective View of this. When Then the 'nuts are screwed downv the cover G is cast onto the said box7 the plate A can be put in its place, when the steam-chest is oli' and before the valve B is put in; or strong screws instead of studs and nuts, as in Fig. 5, may be used to draw up the plate A. The letters z' i t' in Fig. 5 represent three screws. The top of the box G, as shown in Fig; 9, is thus made to support a part ot the weight of the live steam, which rests upon the plate A.

It at any time it becomes necessary to tighten or loosen the valve B, the set-screws H H H H maybe turned up or down, the

nuts on the tops of the bolts O O O adjusted to suit, and the strips of metal on the shoulders a a, under the ends of the plate A, removed or added to, as the case may require, and the valve B may be perpetually preserved from its customary tonnage ot' live steam.

lt is obvious that the plate A may be liable to lateral motion by means of some friction between it and the top surface of the yalve B under some circumstances. The bolts O O O, anchored in the top G, and passing into the plate A, will hold the said plate from moving. Besides, if occasion should require that the plate Ashould be fastened more securely, it could be most effectually done by cutting down a recess or recesses in the sides of the box, and letting the ends of the plate A project into them, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4 by letters i" r and s s. It is believed that this valve is thus rendered strong, durable,easily adjustable, and reliable.

Another distinguishing feature of my valve is my device for exhausting the steam ot' an engine moreabundantly and suddenly from the piston before it turns the dead-center, and for giving steam in a more forcible volume to the piston as soon as it has passed the deadcenter. This is accomplished by cutting two recesses, P P, in the under side ot' the plate A, directly over the two live-steam ports, and of precisely the same length and width, or nearly so, and then cutting ports through the ends ot the valve B, which last-named ports are represented by the letters S S S S. The recesses l? P are a part ot' the supplementary ports for supplying and exhausting the steam of an engine in conjunction with the present method.

It will be seen that my valve will give an engine steam and exhaust it nearly twice as fast as the valve in ordinary use.

My supplementary ports also balance the ends of the valve B when they cross andrecross the ports in the valve-face, and prevent the rocking motion which wears the arcs on the face of the old slide-valve, causing it to leak, and to need frequent and costly rescating. My valve, moving in a horizontal Vmanner without any weight on it,'and perfectly balanced, wears but imperceptibly during a long period, and saves the wear and tear of the eccentrics and link-motion.

Fig. l0 is a vertical section cut through my improved valve, and illustrating more fully,

- whereby the balancingplate is supported and adjusted, substantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

3. The combination of the valve-boxj, top or lid G, plate A, and valve B, independent of the steam-chest or` steam-chest cover, whereby the valveis not aected by the screwing down or unscrewin g of the bolts or nuts ot' the said steam-chest or its cover, substantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

4. In combination with the cylinder of a steam-engine, the valve boxj, having shoulders a a, its lid or cover A and G, the doubleported valve B, provided with hollow casting E, all being arranged within the steam-chest of said engine, whereby the valve is balanced, and the weight of live steam'removed from it, all operating in the manner and for the purposes substantially as shown and described. HENRY W. ADAMS. i

Witn es ses I. R. OAKFORD, S. S. BRooKs. 

